BY OLIVIA EBERSOLE (’16)
These past few years two certain genres of books have been flying off the shelves. Young adult books, commonly known as YA and usually about teens around 12 to 18, and new adult books, known as NA and with characters from 18 to 26. These stories are gaining ground in the world of readers. When most people think young adult they think “Twilight“ or “Hunger Games“, but trust me, those do not scrape the surface of what consists of young adult books. New adult books have become more popular as many young adult authors write in both genres, and as teens get older they feel young adult may be too young for them. This I understand as it can be hard to relate to a twelve year old sometimes when you are eighteen. However there is one author who is amazing at writing both genres and letting people of all ages enjoy her writing.
Jennifer L. Armentrout has written 42 books total and is still writing more. 21 of them are young adult and 21 are new adult. I started reading her young adult books in middle school, and still am. She is one of my go-to authors, I will buy her books as soon as they come out and when someone asks me for recommendations she is one of the first authors that come out of my mouth. Armentrout herself is very kind and humorous as I had the opportunity of meeting her at a book signing. She stayed an extra three hours after it was supposed to end to make sure all her readers got their books signed.
Armentout has come up with so many different story lines and characters it is awe-inspiring to know they have all come from the same one person. Her stories range from real life problems such as sexual harassment to fun stories about Greek gods. Many authors write and write, but their books always seem to have repeated characters or too similar plot lines, but Armentrout guarantees variety and originality. Her writing style flows with the perfect amount of description and dialogue. Readers are always able to have a clear picture of the setting, characters, and what is going on without falling asleep because the color of every object in the room is described in great detail (and lets be real, we have all read those books). Her characters are always well developed, have sarcastic comments that appeal to everyone’s sense of humor and will leave you with a sore stomach from laughing.
One of my favorite series out of her young adult books is the Lux Series. The first book, “Obsidian,” focuses on a relatable quirky girl who moves to a new town and begins trying to find out the secret of the handsome boy next door. Spoiler (not really): he is an alien! This plot has enough twists and turns, action, romance and humorous dialogue to keep you reading for hours. It is original; I mean, how many time does one read about an alien romance? The main character, Katy, is very relatable with a love for books, a strong personality and she does not care what anyone thinks of her. Luckily there are five books so do not worry about getting a book hangover too quickly.
Out of Armentrout’s new adult books my personal favorite is “Wait for Yo.u“ This is a contemporary romance revolving around the life of a young women who went through a terrible experience at a party as a teen and has a hard time getting past it and living her life in peace. She runs into (literally) a young man with a great sense of humor, a kind personality and, of course, a mysterious past. The book is a powerful read with a sensitive but very real topic, letting all young women in the world know they are not alone. Overall “Wait for You“ is more than worth picking up off the shelf. After finishing the book, Jennifer has written more novels revolving around the characters within the world of “Wait for You“, called companion novels.
When looking at Jennifer L. Armentrout’s collection of works, do not get overwhelmed. Pick a book. Read it. No matter which one it is, you will not regret it, trust me.
